{"id":11310,"date":"2015-10-22T06:51:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T06:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=11310"},"modified":"2015-10-22T06:51:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T06:51:35","slug":"you-helped-set-me-free-john-pontifax-acn-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/10\/22\/you-helped-set-me-free-john-pontifax-acn-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"You helped set me free &#8211;  John Pontifax \u2013 ACN UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>SYRIA \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a016<sup>th<\/sup> October 2015<\/p>\n<p><strong>You helped set me free<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong><em>Fr Mourad tells how his humanitarian aid \u2013 sponsored by charities \u2013 inspired a friend to plot his escape <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Father Jacques Mourad has told how he escaped Daesh (ISIS) in Syria with the help of a friend whose family had been helped by the priest\u2019s programme of aid to the poor and disadvantaged.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking out after nearly six months in the hands of the Islamist terror group, Fr Mourad said that with the help of the friend he had escaped Daesh-held Qaratayn on the back of a motorbike disguised as an Islamist fighter.The friend, who had links with Daesh, had told Fr Mourad he was impressed by the priest\u2019s humanitarian relief work in Qaratayn \u2013 food, shelter and medicine \u2013 funded by charities including Aid to the Church in Need.<\/p>\n<p>In an exclusive interview with ACN, Fr Mourad said: \u201cWhat ACN has done to help us has played a great role in setting me free\u201d. Fr Mourad, whose outreach to Muslims led him to be known as \u2018Sheikh Jacques\u2019, said that when Qaratayn\u2019s water supplies were cut off he helped build a reservoir with the help of ACN. He was convinced that this help had caused the militants to show leniency towards 150 Christians held hostage by Daesh in Qaratayn.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking by telephone from Syria, Fr Mourad said: \u201cThe help of people such as you at ACN has helped protect the Christians in the hands of Daesh.\u201d Fr Mourad described how pressure from Muslims in Qaratayn had prompted his return to the city under house arrest following 84 days in aDaesh prison at the terror group\u2019s headquarters in Raqqa, northern Syria.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cOne day, one of the ISIS leaders came to me and said: \u2018Everybody in Qaratayn had been talking about you, asking for you.\u2019 So he told me to come with him.<\/p>\n<p>was led away \u2013 still blindfolded and with hands bound \u2013 and I was taken into what seemed like a huge tunnel. Some time later, they removed my blindfold and I could see all my parish in front of me in the shelter that ACN had built. It was amazing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Recalling his time in prison, Fr Mourad said that every day in the prison Islamists would threaten to kill him. He added: \u201cI was waiting for the moment when they would come and slit my throat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fr Mourad said he was convinced his efforts to remain calm and at peace helped save his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was very conscious of the prayers of so many people \u2013the prayers of St Ignatius of Loyola and Charles de Foucauld \u2013 \u2018Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>John Pontifax \u2013 ACN UK<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYRIA \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a016th October 2015 You helped set me free \u00a0Fr Mourad tells how his humanitarian aid \u2013 sponsored by charities \u2013 inspired a friend to plot his escape Father Jacques Mourad has told how he escaped Daesh (ISIS) in Syria with the help of a friend whose family had been helped by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - 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